Woody Johnson, Jets Owner, Invests in Crystal Palace
The owner of the New York Jets, Woody Johnson, has reached an agreement for 190 million pounds sterling (254 million dollars) to acquire a 43% stake in Crystal Palace, a Premier League team, the club announced on Monday.
The agreement is subject to Premier League approval and Johnson, former US ambassador to the UK, passing the league’s owners’ and directors’ test, also known as the Fit and Proper Persons Test.
While the completion is pending approval from the Premier League and the Women’s Super League, we do not foresee any problems and look forward to welcoming Woody as a partner and director of the club.
Crystal Palace Statement
The club also thanked John Textor for his contribution over the past four years and wished him success in the future.If Johnson’s agreement with Textor is approved by the Premier League, this could allow Palace, champion of the 2024-25 FA Cup, to participate in the next edition of the UEFA Europa League.
This would also prevent the club from breaching the rules on multi-club ownership, as Textor’s Eagle Football Holdings group also has a controlling stake in French club Lyon.
The Palace has not yet been authorized to play in the Europa League due to ongoing negotiations between the club and UEFA.
Although Textor does not have a daily involvement in the management of Palace, which is controlled by chairman Steve Parish and American investors Josh Harris and David Blitzer, UEFA rules prevent two teams with the same ownership from playing in the same competition, unless the shares of a club are placed in a blind trust.
Textor failed to place his shares of Palace or Lyon in that vehicle before the UEFA deadline of March 1, more than two months before Palace secured qualification for the Europa League by winning the FA Cup.
Johnson, 78, was the United States ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2017 to 2021 and made a failed bid to buy Chelsea after the UK government sanctioned former owner, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, in 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Johnson has previously stated to be a Chelsea supporter.
